Today it was time to assemble the canopy. I was putting it off as multi-part canopies can be a pain in the arse to assemble (witness the ICM 1/48 OV-10A Bronco canopy), also the fit of parts on the Chipmunk so far didn’t inspire confidence.
To be on the safe side in case I needed to use superglue, the clear parts were washed with IPA and when dry they were dipped into Kleer floor polish and left to dry for a couple of hours.
Where the clear parts join together, the edges were very gently scraped with a modelling knife to clean away the Kleer floor polish and remembering to dry fit part A5 the canopy parts were mounted onto the kit supplied jig (part C27).
The canopy bracing part (A5) was dabbed with superglue where it fits onto the canopy sides then Tamiya Extra Thin liquid glue was VERY carefully applied to the joints;
I have to say the fit of these parts was excellent. The assembly will now be left to cure thoroughly before further handling.
The difference between the ICM OV-10 canopy disaster and this one is that I had masked off the clear parts beforehand because I thought it would make things easier as the OV-10 canopy is big with very thin contact points, unfortunately the liquid glue managed to get under the masking tape and marred the clear parts. This time around I left the masking tape off until the canopy was assembled, hopefully it will be strong enough to take some handling although seeing it has been coated with Kleer I could run some superglue along the joints to strengthen the canopy.
With the canopy together the build is pretty much done with only the windscreen to add later;
With a bit of luck I’ll be able to get some paint on it this weekend.
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